400 Years of Lutheran Worship in North America: Rasmus Jensen’s Story

Woodcut from Jens Munk’s account of the Danish voyage, showing the two ships in the bay, attempts at hunting, cutting wood, and burying the dead.

by Mathew Block

On September 7, 1619, a ship from Denmark captained by Jens Munk arrived in Hudson Bay, landing in the area that would later be known as Churchill, Manitoba. A companion ship arrived two days later on September 9. They had been seeking out the Northwest Passage, but faced increasing difficulties with the weather before finally landing in Hudson Bay. Now they were forced to prepare for the onset of winter.

The obverse of this Canadian centennial medal alludes to the arrival of Lutheranism in Canada with Rev. Rasmus Jensen and the Danish expedition, with the foot of the cross rising out of Churchill, Manitoba (Lutheran Council in Canada, 1967).

Among the crew was the chaplain, Rev. Rasmus Jensen, a Lutheran priest from the Church of Denmark. Today Rev. Jensen is remembered as the first Lutheran minister to serve in North America, and also for leading the first Christian worship services in Western Canada. But his ministry would prove brief and difficult. The crew was not prepared for the harsh winter conditions. Gradually they succumbed to scurvy and the cold. Rev. Jensen’s ministry consequently focused on consoling the sick and conducting funerals, although he also led a Christmas Mass.

By January 10, 1620, Rev. Jensen took to bed ill. A few weeks later, on January 23, he “sat up in his berth and gave the people a sermon,” records Captain Munk. It was the “last sermon,” Munk adds briefly, “he delivered in this world.” After a further month of illness, Rev. Jensen died on February 20, the twenty-first member of the crew to perish.

Of the 64-person crew, only three would survive the winter: Captain Munk and two others. They arrived home in Norway after two month’s hard journey, a full year after having first arrived in Hudson Bay.

That history has been little remembered in recent years, although in June 16-17, 1991, the Lutheran Council in Canada gathered in Churchill to commemorate the ministry of Rev. Jensen. The participants, which included Lutheran Church–Canada President Edwin Lehman and Central District President Roy Holm, as well as members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Church in Denmark, unveiled a plaque noting the story of Rev. Jensen’s ministry. The unveiling took place one day before the 371^st anniversary of the departure of the three surviving crewmen back to Europe.

Members of the Lutheran Council in Canada gathered in Churchill, Manitoba in 1991 to dedicate a plaque commemorating Rasmus Jensen.

The text of the plaque reads: “In 1619, 8 kilometres upriver from this site, the first Lutheran services on North American soil were conducted by the Rev. Rasmus Jensen. He was a member of the ill-fated Danish expedition which discovered this port and wintered here. Only the ship’s captain, Jens Munk, and two crewmen survived the harsh weather, returning to Denmark the following year. Pastor Jensen led a Christmas mass, buried the dead, and ministered to the forlorn company. He died February 20, 1620, the first Protestant clergyman to be buried in Canadian soil.”

2019 marks the 400^th anniversary of the arrival of the ill-fated Danish expedition. It consequently also marks the 400^th anniversary of the first Lutheran worship services in North America. And while the story of Rev. Jensen ended in death, we know that death is not the end of the story. Jesus says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25). This was the Gospel which Rev. Jensen was called to preach as a minister of the church. It’s the hope which he held out to others in his final days.

We shall see Rev. Jensen at the resurrection of the dead, and with him all other believers in Christ. In the meantime, we continue the same work: proclaiming the Gospel and comforting the grieving.

Lutheran Church–Canada congregations may wish to mark the 400^th anniversary of the first Lutheran worship services in Canada this fall with a special prayer during worship:

Gracious and merciful Father in heaven, we thank You for Your servant, Rasmus Jensen, the first Lutheran pastor to serve in North America 400 years ago as chaplain on the ill-fated Danish expedition to Hudson Bay, whose earthly remains lie near Churchill, Manitoba known only to You, and who now awaits the day of the resurrection of all flesh. Be with all pastors who travel to distant, desolate, and perilous places, as they minister to those they accompany and to those they meet along the way, proclaiming to them the Gospel and sharing their hardships in the name of Him who humbled Himself to share ours—Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, in Your mercy; hear our prayer.

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Mathew Block is editor of The Canadian Lutheran and communications manager for the International Lutheran Council.

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